Google has announced the launch of NotebookLM Plus, a version of its viral AI note-taking and research app, NotebookLM, specifically designed for businesses. This new enterprise-focused iteration brings the same experience as the consumer version, but with added controls for access and data management, making it an attractive solution for organizations seeking to enhance collaboration and productivity.

NotebookLM Plus, part of Google Cloud's new platform for AI-powered "agents" called Agentspace, offers a range of features tailored to meet the unique needs of businesses. Employees can upload data and files to create notebooks, generate podcast-like audio summaries, and search across and share these projects with organization members. The app also provides five times more podcast-like audio summaries, notebooks, and data sources per notebook, as well as the ability to customize the style and tone of AI-generated notebook responses.

Another key benefit of NotebookLM Plus is the introduction of shared team notebooks with usage analytics, enabling teams to work together more effectively and track project progress. This feature is particularly useful for large-scale projects that require collaboration across multiple departments or teams.

In addition to its integration with Agentspace, NotebookLM Plus is also available in Google Workspace for business, school, university, and enterprise users who prefer not to sign up for Agentspace. Furthermore, organizations can purchase NotebookLM Plus separately via Google Cloud. Individual users subscribed to Google's $20-a-month Google One AI Premium plan will also gain access to NotebookLM Plus starting early next year.

NotebookLM has been one of Google's most popular AI-powered products since its launch, with its audio-generation feature creating a realistic-sounding, back-and-forth dialogue between two synthetic podcast hosts from a source video or audio file, URL, or document. The app's popularity has led to numerous clones, and even the key leaders behind the app have left the company. However, Google continues to update NotebookLM with new functionality, such as its recent redesign and experimental "join" feature.

The redesign reorganizes the app's tools across three panels: a Sources panel for managing imported information, a Chat panel for discussing that information through a conversational interface, and a Studio panel that lets users create content with a single click. The experimental "join" feature, available in English, allows users to participate in podcast-like audio conversations by asking the synthetic hosts for more details or to expand on a concept.

While NotebookLM's AI-powered features are undoubtedly impressive, it's essential for users to fact-check answers from these tools to ensure accuracy. As Google notes, the "join" feature may occasionally introduce inaccuracies, and users should exercise caution when relying on AI-generated responses.

With the launch of NotebookLM Plus, Google is poised to revolutionize the way businesses approach collaboration, research, and productivity. As the company continues to update and refine its AI-powered offerings, it's clear that NotebookLM will remain a key player in the enterprise technology landscape.